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Topic: Cloth Banded Cheeses (Read 1960 times)

I would like to have a discussion on the finer points of caring for Cloth Banded Cheeses. After a visit to the Mount Tamborine cheese factory (QLD - Australia) and seeing the large wheel of their aging Cheddars I have decieded to attempt Bandaging my Cheddar style cheeses instead of waxing. So apart from several - and varied - methods of the achieveing this I decided on a Lard covering using cheese cloth wrappings. the images below are of a Stirred Curd Cheddar at 3 weeks. The recipe of the cheese I have made sucessfully several times before so I'm not worried about the make. What I am worried about is what moulds can I expect - and live with , and what moulds will cause me issues .

For the first question i used 2 layers on all sides with Lard alternating with cloth. It was smoothed nicely between the layers. For the second, no I didn't press between layers, i didn't think one needed to. But after reading your question i did a bit more research a there were some references to than, but I couldn't fit it back into the mould at the moment. I checked the moulds and it appears to be under the first layer so should I take the layers off and start again? Your thoughts . . . . .

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I tried bandaging for awhile, but the mold under the bandage was the thing that made me quit. I never could keep it from occurring. So I went to simply coating my cheeses with lard or brushing them with olive oil if the rind started getting too dry.

In my limited experience, the mold that develops on the surface of the cheddar helps give the entire cheese more flavor. Pictures of the aged English cheddars that have been bandaged show mold development. I think the problem is that if there are voids in the cheese that allow the mold to infiltrate then you get a blue moldy flavor throughout the cheese that just is not good. It's sort of a 'dry' mold taste, not like a creamy blue.

If you're fairly certain that your cheddar is solid, why don't you go ahead and age it out as is? Even if you have some mold infiltration, you should get very good flavor.

The issue with doing bandaging at home is the wild spores that are present. It looks like you have some common vegetable penecillium on there. They aren't very good for flavour. Most commercial operations have a very stable spore loading. You can put most any cheese in one of the maturation rooms and it will grow a specific mould without innoculation. It is very difficult to achieve this at home. You do need a very good press on a cheddar to bandage it, press the bandage on as well. My only recommendation would be to purchase a piece of Cabot or Montgomery's and transfer the moulds to your wheels. With a bit of luck and diligence you can suffocate the wild spores.

I have just read the reply about staving out the the 'Wild ones' and I might take a trip back to the Cheese makers at Tamborine to transplant som eof theirs. The wheel is looking ok at the moment and there is no smell, so I'm thinking that at 4 weeks it is still surviving. I'll post more images as the weeks progress.

-- Mal

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